Recipes and news from the makers of Zest Recipe Manager

Despite being frustrated at times with Miss One’s overly discerning tastes, I am amazed at how today’s kids are so much more advanced and adventurous with their food than we were at their age. I would’ve been in my late teens before I tried my first sushi while my Miss One had her first taste pretty much as soon as she started solids at 5 months! And she took to it instantly! So our local sushi restaurant, Sushi Man, has become one of our most frequented favourites — it’s one restaurant when Miss One will happily sit (yes! they have high chairs) for more than five minutes. And sushi is particularly great as finger food (Miss One can feed herself so I get to eat at the same time as everyone else – bonus!) as well as being healthy.

So I decided to try my hand at making my own sushi rolls and make them a tad healthier (often, there is a lot of mayonnaise in the store bought ones). I bought some sushi rice, rice wine vinegar, seaweed and a sushi mat and I was set.

I followed the instructions for cooking the rice on the packet and it worked well, so that is what I have included in the recipe. To make the rolls bub-friendly I didn’t use as much vinegar and sugar as other recipes, but this is something you can adjust to your own taste. For the filling I used avocado and tinned tuna which is quite a common combo (and one I know Miss One enjoys).

I must say making sushi rolls was far easier than I had expected – it all stayed together, the texture of the rice seemed right, I didn’t tear the seaweed and the best thing is Miss One seemed to enjoy it as much as Sushi Man’s!!!! Woohoo!!! Next time I will be more adventurous and make some adult ones for us — yay, an easy meal for the whole family!

Unfortunately this is not a recipe that keeps well, the rice does harden and dry when refrigerated so I suggest making just enough for the immediate meal. The recipe I have given makes two sushi rolls (i.e. two seaweed sheets).

An easy healthy finger food for your kidlets – great for lunch or even as an afternoon snack after school

Ingredients

1 cup sushi rice

1 cup water

4 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoon caster sugar

1/2 ripe avocado

150g tinned tuna (I used the springwater variety)

2 sheets of seaweed

bamboo sushi mat (these are easily found in Asian grocery stores)

Instructions

Wash and rinse rice until the water runs clear.

In a medium saucepan, add the rice and water and bring to a boil for 3 minutes, then reduce to a medium heat. When the water is almost all absorbed, reduce to a low heat and cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour the rice wine vinegar and sugar into the rice and mix thoroughly. Turn off the heat and let the rice stand for 15 minutes with a lid on.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Simply cut the avocado into long strips about 0.5cm wide. Mash the tuna chunks with a fork.

Place a sheet of seaweed (shiny side down) on the bamboo sushi mat. Spread the rice in a thin layer evenly over the seaweed using a flat knife or spatula, leaving a 4cm edge uncovered on one side.

About 3cm from the opposite side, arrange the avocado in a row on top of the rice. Spread the tuna in a row alongside the avocado.

Brush the uncovered seaweed strip with a little water to help it stick. Starting at the side with the filling, use the bamboo mat to start rolling the sushi all the way up the uncovered strip. Pat down firmly where the seaweed joins.

Cut crosswise into slices with a wet knife and voila! Your own sushi rolls!